Page 52 of Buried Too Deep

Cora returned her attention to Antoine. “You’ll check the disks quickly?”

“As soon as I get home. I have my old computers there.” He dropped the disks into a plastic bag and sealed it. “You guys can keep searching, if you want, but I want to see what Cora’s dad was doing before he died.”

“Call me as soon as you find something,” Burke instructed.

“Yes, boss.” Giving a salute, Antoine left the attic.

Burke tilted his head, studying Cora. “How did you know about disks and airplanes?”

“I’m a librarian. I know a little bit about a lot of stuff. This terrifying trivia came from some middle school kids doing a project on my library’s computer. Their mother is a housekeeper in one of the houses near the library and they don’t have internet at home, so they do their homework on our computers. One of them read this tidbit and shouted, ‘Hell to the no!’ I reprimanded him, of course, both for yelling and swearing in the library, but he said, ‘Miss Cora, you gotta see this. I’m never flyin’ again.’ And then I read what was on his screen and whispered ‘Holy shit.’ They were delighted that I swore, too,” she added wryly.

Molly laughed. “I bet you notched up a hair in the cool category. Miss Cora has a potty mouth. Here’s another box for you to check.”

Phin was slicing at the tape when they heard a shout from downstairs, followed by footsteps thundering up the stairs.

Burke and Molly reacted immediately, each pulling guns from holsters.

Phin was standing in front of Cora before she could blink.

“Just me!” Antoine called out. “Don’t shoot.”

Burke and Molly lowered their weapons but didn’t put them away. Cora felt a little safer, seeing how quickly they all responded. Especially Phin. He’d been willing to use his own body to shield her.

That shouldn’t have been as hot as it was.

Antoine came back into the attic, eyes alight. “I just got notification that someone’s playing with our laptops. I’ve got a location and I need backup.”

Burke holstered his gun, as did Molly. “I’ll go,” Burke said. “Molly, you’re with Cora. Phin, you’re with me.”

His back was still to her, but his shock was unmistakable. “Me?” he asked.

“You,” Burke said. “Bring SodaPop. We need to roll before they realize we’re tracking them and toss our laptops. Let’s go.”

Phin looked over his shoulder at Cora as he was leaving the attic. “You’ll be okay.” It was mostly a statement, but there was a hint of a question there.

She gave him a firm nod. “I will be. Go. I wanna know who’s doing this.”

The alarm beeped as the front door slammed and Cora reset it using her phone. “Are you upset you’re stuck with me?”

Molly shook her head. “No way. I’ve had my share of excitement on past jobs and will have more in the future. But I don’t want to be up here in the attic all by ourselves. Phin hasn’t secured all your windows yet and with the lights on up here, we’ve lit a big neon sign saying where we are. Let’s take those receipts downstairs. You can help me catalog them. We’ll be faster working together.”

Mid-City, New Orleans, Louisiana

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 9:50 P.M.

“How much farther?” Burke asked tensely.

They’d been driving for about twenty minutes, as fast as Antoine dared. Burke was in the front passenger seat, Phin in the back with SodaPop, her muzzle resting on his thigh.

Phin checked his phone’s map app. “If the laptops haven’t been moved, we’re about three minutes out.”

Antoine glanced down at his own phone before returning his eyes to the road. “They haven’t moved. Still the same GPS coordinates.”

That was good at least. “When do you want to call 911?” Phin asked, still not sure why he’d been included. Maybe Burke was still trying to make up for suspecting him that morning.

If so, the boss’s concern was misplaced. Phin knew where he belonged. He was nighttime security and the firm’s handyman. He’d be okay with that, even if everything in him yearned for more, because he was still a liability.

A liability with a service dog in tow.

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